‘The Brussels European Summit. “Right! … What are we talking about? … I don’t know, I thought you’d prepared something?! …”’ On 30 October 1993, on the eve of the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht, French cartoonist Plantu illustrates the difficult economic recovery of an EU that is wracked by unemployment and recession. The previous day, at the Brussels Extraordinary European Council, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, expressed his discouragement at the economic crisis tormenting Europe. Can the Franco-German duo Kohl and Mitterrand still play a driving role to give new impetus to the European integration process?